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North Carolina's sounds, bays and ocean teem 

 with protein-packed life. About three per cent of 

 the nation's commercial seafood comes from these 

 waters, but processing in the state lags far behind. 

 Researchers Marvin Speck and George Giddings, 

 both of NCSU, are trying to help processors. Speck 

 is looking for ways to increase the shelf life of sea- 

 food products and protect the good health of con- 

 sumers. 



Giddings is researching the effects of processing 

 on trace elements and heavy metals in seafoods. 

 His findings will be used to make recommendations 

 on minimizing chemical contamination while as- 

 suring the best nutritional value of the product. 



Another way to assist North Carolina's seafood 

 industry is by introducing new products. To be 

 successful, the new foods must be liked. So re- 

 searcher Donald Hamann (NCSU) is looking at 

 how to give new minced seafood products the popu- 

 lar texture of red-meat based foods. 



Aquaculture is another logical way to expand 

 North Carolina's seafood industry. Bill Rickards 

 (NCSU) and associates have already shown that 

 eels can be grown here in ponds. They'll continue 

 to refine economic analyses of eel farming and 

 provide technical information and help to potential 

 eel growers and other scientists. They'll also 

 gather biological and nutritional information on 

 eels at the New Bern "farm." 



Disease is an obstacle to many aquaculture ven- 

 tures since it can spread quickly in confined aqua- 

 culture ponds and wipe out a "crop" in just a few 

 days. Biologist Chuck Bland (ECU) has been 

 studying fungal diseases affecting aquaculture and 



Beach access is a growing problem. 



Heading shrimp for marketing. 



has provided some practical advice that saved 

 many cultured shrimp and their growers. He'll 

 continue to study the biology and control of fungal 

 diseases and to help aquaculturists with disease 

 problems. 



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North Carolina's beaches are open to the public. 

 But with increasing development, it is increasingly 

 difficult to get to those beaches. "No Trespassing" 

 signs dot beach front houses. Fences spring up. 



David Brower (UNC-CH) will tackle the thorny 

 problem by defining, evaluating, testing and pre- 

 senting the most effective legal tools which may 

 be used by governments to secure public access to 

 coastal beaches. 



North Carolina's coastline stretches over 330 

 miles. Over half a million people make their homes 

 here. Where people and environment meet, prob- 

 lems sometimes arise. Eroding shorelines and con- 

 tinuing development are an obvious example. 



Estuarine shoreline erosion gobbles up an aver- 

 age of two to three feet a year in North Carolina. 

 But losses of 20 feet are not uncommon. Folks just 

 can't afford to wait and see which backyards the 

 land thief will gobble up. 



For the past two years, Sea Grant-supported 

 researchers at East Carolina University have been 

 examining how erosion works and the factors that 

 slow it down or speed it up. In 1977, Stan Riggs, 

 Mike O'Connor and Vince Bellis will present local 

 governments and land owners with a classification 

 system of shoreline types and tips on identifying 

 and dealing with those types. 



There's more good news on estuarine erosion. 

 Scientists working at North Carolina State Uni- 

 versity have proven that in some cases marsh 

 grasses can be planted to slow and, sometimes, 

 even reverse erosion. The problem is, the research- 

 ers can't readily predict where their grasses will 

 and won't work. So, this year, Ernest Seneca and 

 Steve Broome (NCSU) are teaming up with NCSU 

 physical oceanographer Ernie Knowles in an effort 

 to establish the physical and biological parameters 

 affecting establishment of marsh vegetation. 



Of course, nature takes her toll on the barrier 

 islands as well. Besides erosion, the barrier islands 

 are faced with periodic oceanic overwash — when 

 the sea rushes over the land. Bill Cleary and Paul 

 Hosier (UNC-W) will map areas that experience 

 overwash in varying degrees and explore whether 

 and how vegetation can be a key to identification 

 of potentially hazardous washover areas. 



A close cousin to the washover, the inlet, will get 

 a once-over by NCSU's Jerry Machemehl. He'll be 

 developing predictive models for inlet behavior to 

 help coastal engineers design inlets and predict 

 the effects of man-made changes. 



Another problem connected with increasing 

 coastal development is sewage disposal. To tackle 

 the problem, some people look to the sea for ocean 

 outfall of treated wastes. Len Pietrafesa (NCSU) 

 has been examining the circulation patterns off 

 our southern — and rapidly developing — coast in 

 Onslow Bay to predict where sewage dumped off- 



shore might go. In 1977, John Bane (UNC-CH) 

 and Pietrafesa will broaden the work to include the 

 more northern — and very different — Raleigh Bay 

 as well. Their research is part of work being done 

 to solve this high priority problem by combining 

 funds from the N.C. Office of Marine Affairs, the 

 Energy Research and Development Administra- 

 tion, and the National Atmospheric and Space 

 Administration. 



Related work, to be done by Yates Sorrell 

 (NCSU), will establish engineering criteria and 

 define the site data necessary for the evaluation 

 of a proposed outfall design. This, too, is part of 

 the overall ocean outfall study. 



The quirks of ocean currents are being explored 

 fo judge the effects of ocean dumping contem- 

 plated for the future. 



